The city will consider adopting a new ordinance that not only makes it unlawful to create graffiti, but also clearly defines a graffiti removal policy – including to whom the cleanup responsibility falls.

The Burlington City Council will vote Tuesday on an ordinance presented to city staff and council members Monday night during a work session by Burlington Police Chief Jeff Smythe and Interim City Attorney Charles Bateman.

“These types of ordinances go from draconian to remedial,” Bateman said, adding the strictest graffiti ordinances outlaw the sale of materials such as spray paint.

He and Smythe agreed that’s not the approach Burlington should take.

Instead, the proposed ordinance will deem any issuance of graffiti a “public nuisance” and make defacing any public or private property unlawful. It also will spell out who has to clean up the mess, after the fact.

According to the proposed ordinance, the perpetrator is responsible for removing the graffiti within 24 hours of notification by the city or a private property owner. If the graffiti were created by a minor, the parents or legal guardians of the perpetrator also will be responsible for the cleanup.

But Smythe recognizes that graffiti “artists” don’t usually step forward to cover their work. So a section of the proposed ordinance offers provisions for cleanup by personal property owners or the city itself.

If personal property remains defaced with graffiti for 10 days after its owner receives notice of the graffiti, it will be considered unlawful, and the owner will be responsible for the cleanup. The notice will state that if the graffiti aren't removed in 10 days, the city will consider the affected property a public nuisance.

In that case, Smythe said, the cleanup would be subject to Burlington’s standard nuisance abatement process, in which the city takes care of the cleanup but sends the property owner the bill.

However, the city wants to help property owners when it can.

Smythe said when the initial notice is given to property owners indicating the defaced property, the city also will provide information on local vendors specializing in graffiti removal, or groups such as the Boy Scouts that volunteer to clean up graffiti, as well as the city’s own cleanup processes.

The city also will be able to use public funds to remove graffiti located on “publicly owned or privately owned property viewable from a public or quasi-public place,” according to the proposed ordinance.

If approved Tuesday, the graffiti ordinance will go into effect June 1.

“We really need five or six months of education to let the public know it’s coming,” Bateman said.

Currently there are 40 identified victims of graffiti in the city, Smythe said, but local individuals and groups have volunteered to repaint and accomplish the graffiti cleanup prior to June so those property owners won’t have to play catch-up.

Page 2 of 2 - “That will reduce the long-term costs to the city,” he said.